STHS Library Mission

At Springfield Township High School Library, our goal is to ensure that
learners graduate as competent, critical, and ethical users and
producers of ideas and information. It
is our mission to prepare lifelong learners; "information literate"
citizens able to determine their information needs, recognize relevant
information, solve problems and effectively, and creatively communicate
the results of their research. We understand the importance of sharing
our stories with audiences beyond our school walls.

Instruction, formal and informal, provides students with a process
transferable across subject areas and from academic to real life. The
bulk of the learning is "laboratory style" with students involved in
guided, inquiry-driven research using resources in all formats:
traditional, new, emerging. Welcome to ourvirtual annex!Our mission at the Springfield Township High School Virtual Library
is to translate the mission of the school library for our learning
community in school, at home, anywhere. Our website allows us to open
our library--its customized instruction and its services--to users 24/7!

Stripling Model of Inquiry

What is a research project?

A research
project, whether it is a traditional paper, a video, or a media
presentation, is the end product of a thinking process that involves
student-centered questioning or inquiry.

Research is a life
skill. We are always seeking information. What car or stereo should I buy?
Which college should I choose? Which book should I read next? How can I sell
this idea to my boss? How can I convince the school board to act on my proposal? Should I have this surgery?
Our ability to use information helps us reach conclusions, make decisions,
and communicate more effectively.

Just as the careful car stereo buyer may
"research" Consumer Reports and ask friends for
comments about which model is the best, the careful student researches a topic
in the process of thinking through his or her project. It is important to
triangulate information by checking a variety of sources. The car or
stereo buyer may consult as many different, reliable sources as possible, makes
notes, asks questions, consults additional sources, develops a point of view
based upon all of the information he has found. As students gather information
to reach a conclusion or support a hypothesis, they develop lifelong skills of
information fluency.

Information
fluency is the ability to access, evaluate, use and synthesize information from multiple formats, and to ethically create and share new knowledge in any of a variety of media. Information
fluency is a set of competencies, skills that will grow with students, even
when current operating systems, search tools, or platforms are obsolete.
Information problem solving skills are required across all disciplines.

The research process and the writing process are
connected. Research is of little value unless you can effectively communicate
your new knowledge. The same skills that you use to write an expository paper
are used to develop the research paper or a project in any medium. Asking solid
questions, developing a clear and focused thesis, sketching an outline or a storyboard,
drafting, revising, peer reviewing, and editing all are steps with which you
are already familiar. The research process isrecursive.
Although we describe steps, you will find yourself going back and forth among the
steps, returning to several as you refine your work.

8.Identify strong supporting points and rank them, making certain that the research and logical reasoning support them. Make sure that the evidence you collected is strong and that is directly supports your thesis.

9.Develop an outline or storyboard or construct a visual organizing tool to organize your ideas and evidence. You may choose to use Inspiration or any of many Web-based (See MindMapping, Graphing, Timeling Toolstools.)

10.Prepare a rough draft WITHOUT USING NOTES, making sure that your own voice as a writer is clear.

Gale How to Write a Paper

DIRT: Digital Research Tools Wiki

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Virtual Inquiry

Information literacy standards for student learning, indicators for
student performance, and hundreds of collaborative lesson plans around
the country give us some indication of the skills students are expected
to master as effective and efficient users of information. Hopefully the
goal is that all involved in information literacy education become
wiser consumers of information. In mastering the elements of information
inquiry, teachers and school librarians acting as instructional
specialists model, teach and learn with their students the best ways to
test and select information that is valid and relevant to solve
information problems.